And the Damsel Saved Him Right Back
by Bunny1
Summary: Taking place directly after the episode Hyde came back married to the ho, what if Jackie and Hyde saved each-other from the abomination their lives turned out to be in season 8, and it just... never happened? COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

Jackie rolled out of bed, her hangover throbbing. She'd made a fool of herself in a lot of ways. Maybe she shouldn't have given Steven that ultimatum to start with, and eventually... She stopped herself. She wasn't going to get caught up in this anymore. She would fight for him. Because she loved him, and he loved _her_- didn't he?

She padded downstairs in bare feet and a camisole and panties, starting with shock when she saw the greasy looking man at the breakfast table.

"Ma!" Jackie yelled, alarmed.

Pam came tripping into the room on her overly-high heels for this time of the day. "What, sugarplum?" she asked.

"Who's that?" Jackie demanded.

"Oh, this is my new friend, Ralphie." Pam said, patting Jackie on the arm. "Be nice to him, he owns a boat yard." Pam whispered in her ear.

Jackie rolled her eyes, feeling very self-conscious of the eyes roaming over her half-naked body. "Just... warn me next time so I'll get a robe." she mumbled, racing back up to her room, and locking the door behind her.

The way Ralphie looked at her made her extremely uncomfy, but he hadn't said anything out of the way, so she didn't have a reason to think badly of him... yet. Except that he was in _her_ house at seven a.m. doing inappropriate things with _her_ mother, who was _technically_ still married to her father in prison... Not that she was doing much better personally, with her boyfriend now married to a stripper...

"God, when did I turn into white trash?" Jackie growled, throwing a dress on...

Her life could not be taking this turn... she was Jackie Burkhardt, damnit!

"I'll show them..." she mumbled. "I'll show them all..."

* * *

Later that morning, she came into the Foremans, hiding her hangover well. She'd taken two BC powders even though she'd almost vomited, and she'd fixed her hair and makeup with absolute precision. The dress wasn't hers, it was one of her mother's- purple, tight lycra that had no back and wrapped around her neck. Low-cut, the flouncy skirt coming halfway down her thighs. When she walked in, Steven's eyes boggled. So did Eric's and even _Donna's_...

She pasted on a smile and sat down on the couch next to Donna.

"Good morning!" she said cheerily.

"Hi..." Donna said slowly.

Hyde was unable to form a sentence still at this point.

"Jacks... you look..."

"Like regret, Steven?" she asked, her voice as cold and sweet as ice-cream. "Like what you could still have- if you hadn't gone and married a whore?"

"Jackie..." Hyde groaned, his voice gravelly. "She's... I was _drunk_- I don't remember _doing_ it, and I was _mad_at you!"

"For something that didn't happen!" Jackie shot back, allowing a bit of her anger to show now.

"Yes, I know that _now_!" Hyde shot back. "But you gotta admit-"

"I admit nothing, because I _did_ nothing!"

Hyde ran a hand over his face, and Sam came out of the back room, wearing only Hyde's shirt, her bouncy cheeks slightly poking out from the bottom.

"Good morning, hubby..." she cooed, rubbing her hands all over his shoulders.

"Hi..." Hyde said a bit breathily.

Jackie screeched and stomped out of the room.

Hyde froze. "... shit."

"Is something wrong, Stevie?" Sam cooed.

Hyde slid the ever-moving hands off his shoulders uncomfortably. "Ahhh... I have to go shower for work." he said nervously, starting to make his way upstairs.

"Oh... okay, then... want company?" she chirped, oblivious.

"Yeah, that'd be- _no_." he said, stopping himself. "Just... I don't have a lot of time this morning, why don't you go... get dressed so Fez doesn't ruin the couch?" he said quickly, rushing upstairs.

Donna's eyes narrowed, and she followed Hyde up the stairs, up the second set of stairs, to the bathroom door.

"Donna, I turned Sam down for a shower buddy, and she's a stripper." he joked.

"It's not funny anymore, Hyde!" Donna snapped. "This is just... stupid!"

Hyde ran a hand down his face. "I know, I know... I just... I'm stuck-"

"No, you _aren't_! You're weak and lazy!"

"Does that sound like me?"

"No, it sounds more like Kelso or Fez... or even Eric... but not really you... Hyde, did your breakup with Jackie hit you so bad that you lost yourself completely?" Donna demanded.

Hyde scowled at her. "No..."

Even though, her words were hitting home in a way he did not want to admit to himself.

"Get the annulment. Go _after_ Jackie! You _love_ her!" Donna said. "Fight for her- fight for _yourself_!"

Hyde made a face. "Yeah, like you and Foreman, who just gave up on going forward, when you were the two who actually had some potential?"

And, Donna slapped his face so fast and hard, he didn't even see her leave...


	2. Chapter 2

Jackie walked back into her house, kicking her shoes off in annoyance. She grit her teeth when she saw that Ralphie was still on the couch, in the same position as when she'd left this morning.

"Well, well, hello, Princess..." he said, leering openly at her.

Jackie felt flush and uncomfortable. "Where's my Mom?" she asked in a slightly wavery tone.

"Shopping. I gave her my gold card... she'll be gone a _while_..." Ralphie said, walking over towards her...

* * *

Meanwhile, Hyde had been standing in the shower, his forehead against the wall, the water now cold he'd been in so long.

He was inundated by memories of holding Jackie. Of times when she made him a better man... and he taught her to be his Zen Princess. And of just lying together, holding each-other... He wondered why he'd been such an absolute _dick_ and an _idiot_... She was right; she _shouldn't_ have to put her future on hold just because he didn't want to grow up... and he wanted her to have her future... with _him_...

Resolutely, he stepped out of the shower and began to dress...

* * *

Jackie felt sick to her stomach, a hot warning flush going through her skin.

"I'm gonna go upstairs now..." she said, rushing back up.

She heard the clomping of Ralphie's feet on her heels, and her pace quickened. She started to slam the door, but his foot blocked it.

"Um, this is my room." she said firmly. "You can't be here."

"Now, I think we got off on the wrong foot, sugar. I think we need to get to know each-other..." Ralphie said, pushing the door open with such force that Jackie was knocked back.

She grabbed her phone, rabbiting towards her private bathroom, and slammed and locked the door before he could get to her. She began to panic, her breathing coming in shallow, asthmatic pants. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't fathom that this was happening to her... Where was her mom?

Tears trickled down her face as she curled tighter into a ball, wondering if her drunken slut of a mother would even _care_ that this was happening? Her chest constricted tighter, her breathing coming harder and harder, as he trembling hands began to dial the phone...

* * *

Hyde walked down to the breakfast table, looking at Sam, sitting there wearing barely nothing even though she was fully clothed, painting her toenails on a stool as the rest ate pancakes and bacon, much to Mrs. Foreman's chargrin, and Eric's fascination and delight.

"Sam... we have to talk..." Hyde said, clearing his throat loudly.

"Okay, Stevie-pie!" she chriped, the ever-present coo still in her voice, which when he was drunk must have been sexy, but he now found extremely annoying. "About what?"

"Um... well..." Hyde began, but Mrs. Foreman interrupted.

"How about you dressing like a married lady, _not_ a lady of the evening, and _not_ doing your _toenails_ at my_breakfast table_!" she blurted out loudly, frustrated.

Sam blinked, giving a quiver-lipped pout to Hyde.

"Awwww..." Eric said, eyeing her up.

Hyde rolled his eyes. "Grow up, Foreman!" he snapped. "Sam, I have to talk to you about us." he began, but then the phone rang.

"What about us, baby?" she asked, and he winced, realizing he didn't like when she said it, because Jacks had called him that... and it didn't sound right coming from her mouth...

"I... have to get that, wait a sec," he said, going to the phone. "Hello?"

But, all he heard was heavily labored breathing.

"Fez?" he frowned. "Fezzie, dude, it's me, so I'm not in the mood for obscene phonecalls this morning-"

"Not... Fez..." Jackie wheezed.

"Jacks?" Hyde whispered, panic gripping him now. "Why do you sound like that?"

"Can't... breathe... locked in..."

"_Locked in_?" Hyde yelled. "_Where_?" he demanded.

"Bath..." but she dropped the phone, the effort of words too hard as she struggled to breathe.

"Jackie!" Hyde screamed into the phone, but to no avail.

He grabbed his keys off the hook and raced out the door towards his El Camino...


	3. Chapter 3

When Hyde came bursting into Jackie's house, he saw Pam on the couch with some greasy looking guy he'd never seen before, feeding him little cannipes as her smooth tanned legs were draped over his greasy hairy ones.

"Where's Jackie?" he demanded.

"I don't know, but her car's still here, so I'd assume upstairs." Pam said dismissively.

Hyde frowned at them, especially the way the man on the couch seemed to fidget a little. Imperceptible to most, but Hyde caught it easily. Brushing it aside, he raced upstairs to Jackie's room, to her private bathroom, where the door was locked. He jiggled it, pounding on the door.

"Jackie?" he yelled.

But, there was no answer, so he reared back and kicked the door open, and Jackie was on the floor, out cold. He raced to her, gathering her up in his arms, and tapped her cheeks lightly. Jackie came back to life, so to speak, with a gasping breath.

"Easy, easy, shhh... slow, in, out... there ya go..." Hyde soothed. "Now... what happened?" he asked softly.

"Ralph." she said distastefully.

Hyde quickly leaned her towards the toilet. "There, aim... that way..."

"No, no, _no_..." Jackie sighed. "Mom's 'special friend'..."

"The greasball downstairs?" Hyde frowned.

Jackie nodded. "He knocked my door open, tried to touch me... I... I ran in here and locked the door. Mom wasn't home yet, so I was alone..." she said a bit tearfully.

Hyde kissed her forehead, and stood up.

"Steven, where are you-"

"Wait here." he said tightly, and went downstairs.

Jackie's eyes went huge. She sat down for a nanosecond before following Hyde downstairs, and already heard him yelling.

"Get up, you bastard!" he was saying.

"Look, kid-" Ralphie tried, but it wasn't working.

Hyde reached for his collar, but because his shirt was so open, he got a handful of his chest hairs and pulled him to a standing position. Tears sprung to the large man's eyes. Before he could react, Hyde knocked him to the ground with one punch.

Jackie raced to Hyde, and he caught her with one hand around the waist, pulling her to him.

"Get gone," he growled, "you're here when we come back, I will kill you." he swore, leading Jackie out of the house...

Hyde opened the car door for Jackie and walked silently over to his side, starting it up. Jackie got in, pulling the door shut quickly. They rode in relative silence the first minute or so, the only sound in the car the loud strains of The Steve Miller Band.

_Momma, you're the cutest thing I ever did see...I really love your peaches want to shake your tree... cause I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a midnight toker... I get my lovin' on the run..._

Jackie reached over and turned the radio off.

"Thank you." she said hoarsely.

Hyde nodded, his jaw clenched tight.

"Son of a bitch... thinks he can lay hands to my girl like that... I should turn around and go castrate him!"

"Steven... did you just refer to me as 'yours'."

Hyde blinked, and then pulled the car roughly over.

"Damnit, Steven!" Jackie shrilled. "You knocked me on the window!"

Hyde winced. "Sorry... look, yes, okay? You're mine. You know it, I know it. We're a mess without each-other... look where I ended up without you!"

Jackie nodded, sighing.

"I just... I have to take care of it, will you still be with me when I do?"

Jackie nodded. "Yes, but we have to go now, Steven." she said firmly. "Because I love you... and you're mine, too."

Hyde pulled her into a kiss, and she melted against him, all the pent-up emotions from the past three months exploding as they pulled against each-other...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Two hours later, Hyde and Jackie walked into the Foremans, hand in hand, hair all mussy.

"Steven, what the hell?" Sam glared.

Hyde fidgeted. "Look, Sam..."

"He's mine!" Jackie interrupted. "You're a whore, who tricked him when he was drunk and upset over me. _Me._He is _mine_, now get your whore clothes, your whore makeup, and your whore _ass_ and hit the bricks!"

"What she said." Hyde smirked, looking at Jackie proudly.

Sam huffed, her mouth wide open in shock. Fez, Eric and Donna watched with interest in the back, munching on popcorn. Finally, Sam shrugged. "Well, we weren't _legally_ married anyway; I'm already married to some really old dude with lots of money." she admitted, and walked downstairs nonchalantly to get her stuff.

"Wait... what?" Hyde said, shocked. "What the-"

But, Jackie stopped him by grabbing his face, and pulling him into a knee-buckling kiss. His hands went instantly to her hips. Jackie smiled at him. "Oooh, Steven, it's just like a romantic fairy tale..." she whispered.

"Really? I never read those... what happens after Prince Charming saves the Damsel?"

Jackie smiled. "The damsel saves him right back..."

-End-


End file.
